July 22, 2012 - The 34-minute movie "Truthland"
(starring Shelly Depue) has been making the rounds lately, often
being sponsored by industry and business groups at various screening
locations around Pennsylvania. The seated panels for the Question &
Answer sessions tend to be stacked with all pro-fracking
individuals, but remember, the movie was funded by the gas
industry and their professional associations. "Truthland" is considered the shale gas industry's
counter-punch
to the popular "Gasland" movie starring Josh Fox. In the meantime,
Fox has released the video, "The Sky is Pink" as a prequel to "Gasland II."

June 13, 2012 - The film
and its “full-scale website and social media campaign”
was planned from start to finish by the natural gas
industry. Even its web domain, truthlandmovie.com, was
registered by industry giant Chesapeake Energy. The
origin of Truthland as an industry PR campaign is
confirmed by EID spokesman Chris Tucker’s presentation
to a meeting of West Virginia oil and natural gas
industry representatives in May. EID operates as an
“astroturf” organization that keeps its substantial gas
industry backing and orchestration hidden behind the
names and faces of “locals” and “natives,” but in this
case, they failed to sufficiently hide the degree to
which its “authentic” Gasland response was planned at
the highest level.

Research has revealed that there is trouble in truth land.
One of the Depue wells (8H) is severely flawed with a bubbling
annulus. An annulus is the cemented layer between layers of
steel, you know, the one that 'never leaks' and can survive
cannon-type explosions as seen toward the end of the "Truthland" movie. Two
more of the Depue wells (2H and 6H) have Pennsylvania DEP violations,
which are shown below. Needless to say, it's not going nearly as well as
all the "experts" interviewed in the Truthland movie led Shelly to
believe it would!

As one seasoned Marcellus shale observer half-jokingly
mused:

"It must
be tough being a parrot for industry
when you have a
bubbling annulus."

At one of the Pennsylvania movie screenings this past week, Ms.
Depue stated she had not seen the Pennsylvania DEP File Review
documents for Depue 8H. At least now she can find them here, since
they are shown below, for everyone's reference. Isn't it odd that Pennsylvania
landowners can be 'kept in the dark' when important things like this are
happening on their property, that could affect their health and
well-being. Violations like "Failure to properly control or
dispose of industrial or residual waste to prevent pollution of the
waters of the Commonwealth" doesn't sound good for anyone living
in Pennsylvania.

Depue 8H is located at
41.924375 -75.8729 in Franklin Township, Susquehanna County,
Pennsylvania. The well (DEP permit number 115-20461) was SPUD on
November 18, 2010 by Williams Production Appalachia. Williams
subsequently spun off Williams Production Appalachia to become WPX
Energy, which the Pennsylvania DEP
currently lists as the operator of Depue 8H. The DEP
cited WPX on July 28, 2010 for failing to file production
reports.

Depue 8H has been the subject of multiple DEP violation notices. On
February 15, 2011, violation ID 604972 (Inspection
ID 1950415) is described in the DEP eFACTS database as "Failure
to report defective, insufficient, or improperly cemented casing
w/in 24 hrs or submit plan to correct w/in 30 days".

The actual inspection report notes "Failure to properly cement
intermediate casing." (Inspection reports are not currently
on-line but are available to the public through the DEP 'File
Review' and 'Right To Know' processes.)

Pennsylvania
DEP Inspection ID 1950415

More than a
year later on March 20, 2012, it appears the problem was not
fixed. In Inspection Report 2053535, DEP inspector Stephen Watson
reports: "Well is online. Observed bubbling on 9" x 13" annulus.
Can see bubbling at surface. Bubbling is consistent and visible on
all sides of casing."

Pennsylvania
DEP Inspection Report 2053535(As of July 22, 2012 this inspection report is
still marked
in the eFACTS site record for Depue 8H as "pending")

"Well is
online. Observed bubbling on 9" x 13" annulus. Can see bubbling at
surface. Bubbling is consistent and visible on all sides of casing."

Faulty well casings have frequently been suspected as a cause of
methane migration but these are not the only issues with Depue 8H.
DEP Inspection 1954842 on March 4, 2011 notes two violations:
Violation ID 605918, "Failure to notify DEP of pollution
incident. No phone call made forthwith" and Violation ID 605919,
"Failure to properly control or dispose of industrial or residual
waste to prevent pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth."

It should not be surprising that a well with such problems has
attracted controversy. Neighbors of the Depues, the Manning family,
have sued WPX over contamination of their water:

SCRANTON
TIMES-TRIBUNE
April 11, 2012

Franklin
Forks family sues driller

"Tammy and Matthew
Manning of Franklin Twp. said WPX Energy and two
associated companies contaminated the aquifer through
spills and poorly constructed gas wells in a complaint
filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District
of Pennsylvania.

Citing state Department of Environmental Protection
violations documented at six natural gas wells on two
WPX well pads, known as the Hollenbeck and Depue, the
family argued that the companies were negligent in
drilling and operating the wells."

This case is known as
Manning
et al v. WPX Energy Appalachia, LLC et al, docket number
3:12-cv-00646. Defenders of the gas industry are quick to point out that
ostensibly DEP tests of the Mannings' water show the methane
contamination as biogenic, meaning that it has to have come
from near the surface and can't be thermogenic gas from the
deep Marcellus Shale layer. The biogenic / thermogenic distinction
for methane migration is certainly diagnostic in the thermogenic
case; thermogenic methane cannot have come from close to the surface
via some form of "endemic" pre-Marcellus methane migration problem.
Less clear is whether the immense pressure of hydraulic fracturing
can trigger biogenic methane migration in the case of faulty well
construction.

2011-03-04 - Franklin Township, DEPUE 8H:
Failure to properly control or dispose of industrial or residual
waste to prevent pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth.
Violation ID 605919, WILLIAMS PRODUCTION APPALACHIA LLC.

Actions on applications under the
Explosives Acts of 1937 and 1957 and 25 Pa. Code § 211.124. Blasting
activity performed as part of a coal or noncoal mining activity will
be regulated by the mining permit for that coal or noncoal mining
activity.